Things Are Looking Good At Startup Schwag
Michael Arrington
32 comments »
It’s been a few months since we wrote about Startup Schwag, a service that sends users startup-branded tshirts and stickers every month.
You’ll either think this is lame (not target market) or so cool you’ve wet your pants (target market) and act accordingly. The first attempt at the model by Valleyschwag didn’t scale and folded. Startup Schwag isn’t relying on the companies to produce the stuff, though (that’s where Valleyschwag ran into trouble when they got too big), they do it themselves with the company’s permission.
The first mailing included a TechCrunch Tshirt, and one made its way to Lisa Brewster, who writes the blog Sophistechate. She posted the picture above to her blog a couple of days ago. Golf clap for Lisa, our new unofficial mascot. Another woman models the reddit tshirt here.
Founder Roddy Richards says the service is doing well and has 400 subscribers now paying $15 per month each.
Richards has also founded a startup called PriceAdvance. It was rejected by Y Combinator, but Richards used the money YC gave him to apply (travel expenses) to incorporate the company and get it going. It launched December 11 and is doing well, he says.
I think it’s smart, look at threadless.com, they sell shirts and most times they take pictures of themselves in the shirts in order to show people on the site they bought the shirts. The more pictures on the site, the more of the same shirt is sold. Just like this, the more pictures of people wearing your website on people’s blog the more likely traffic will be pouring into the site. (Then again, people get linked back from here to their blog too)
You’re right, you are either really excited about this idea or you think its the more dumbest idea ever. I still think it has its pros and cons.
It’s certainly a novel idea and a great one for the IT crowd - how to look good in the IT department. I guess it could be their equivalent of Vogue.
I may sign up for a laugh but I wonder if I’m too late to get my Techcrunch t-shirt.
Time Management Tools
“Valleyschwag … folded”
hahaha. Sorry.
1) sign up for $15/month
2) they send branded shirts to models to model on their blogs
3) ……
4) profit
Quite polarizing. But then again seeing more and more people with the schwag will get people subscribing. One I’ll be watching. Good for techies and people like me who love receiving random things in the mail.
I don’t understand why people would pay to be branded by corporations. Shouldn’t they at least be paying them!
Mitch
To me, web shirts are the new band shirts. It’s a way to show people what you’re into and support the companies you believe in.
Comon guys, I know we’re professionals - but am I really the first to note that she is REMARKABLY hot?
Oh yea, and nice idea.
woohoo… I smell another billion dollar valuation coming. J/K..
Yup.. she’s hot.
Agree with Lisa … I think you ‘ll see web shirts popping up in various places this year. College campuses for one. My mother-in-law has a shirt printing biz. I just decided to have her print me some, with my blog name. Maybe some little shirts for my two dogs as well. Dog walking gets a lot of attention.
i’d love to cuddle with this girl
I agree with you Geoff. Did you see the Reddit chick? Nice set of racks right? Then again, this is San Francisco hence the reason why none of the guys have made reference to these hot chicks. haha
@4: they are following the under gnomes business plan (a la South Park)…
1) Steal Underwear
2) Build-up a huge pile
3) ????
4) Profit
My guess is there is very big margins in the t-shirt printing business to cover expenses. That being said, nice picture, I think Peter Ha is in for some competition!
Jon
http://buzvia.com - Share Influence
Great idea! Best wishes to founder “Rowdy” Roddy Richards!
Hmmm. Lisa Brewster, you say?
Hubba hubba.
Mike - Somehow I don’t think this would work as well if I (OR YOU) were wearing the shirt ….
Looks like a decent idea. Would be nice to also be able to purchase just the ones you are interested in.
I’ve been a subscriber since the beginning, and I’m really happy with the service, and I think the company has a chance to make a respectable profit out of this business.
Anyway, here’s me with my imeem shirt
http://technozzle.com/?p=36
I’ve used the service from company standpoint (http://www.buzzpal.com) and end-user standpoint and it’s great all around.
As the subscriber base grows it will become increasingly valuable, especially if they can quantify the demographics some more.
Also, to the extent the “startup backlog” grows, perhaps there is a win-win model in there where companies can still wait for free inclusion in the monthly package, or they can bid their way towards the front of the line.
For example, Roddy can post a monthly calender going out x months and companies can go online, signup, look at their projected publication month, decide to leave it alone or bid it forward.
Maybe 1-2 months before print, the biding is closed and, the schedule is locked down, the production runs ordered and subscribers fulfilled.
Final option for companies who are willing to pay to advance their slot, but don’t have the time or interest to bid: they can pay a fixed price (higher) to lock in a date certain from the beginning. So maybe each month x paid slots go out, y bid slots, and z free slots.
Just an idea, Roddy. Play with it. As you grow this, it definitely gets more and more interesting (I know you already knew that!).
I had the pleasure of getting to know Roddy a little while back. Great, astute guy and he knows what he’s doing.
As far as SS is concerned, the stuff they put out is great. If anyone comes across Disqus stickers in SF, they’re courtesy of Roddy and SS.
nice t-shirt….nice girl!
Hmmm… I wonder if they’d be insterested in buying a domain I own: http://schw.ag ?
I was under the impression that golf clap means only a sarcastic form of appreciation??
http://www.urbandictionary.com.....=golf+clap
” A golf clap is a quiet form of clapping performed by lightly and rapidly clapping the fingers of one hand against the palm of the other. It is patterned after the sound of distant clapping heard during televised golf tournaments, and is sometimes used as a sarcastic form of applause, used to show indifference or disdain.”
http://forums.worldofwarcraft......&sid=1
Yes, I just quoted from WoW forums on TC…
We’ve got a nice branded t-shirt too. See http://www.bembamedia.com. I just started a post on women in startup-branded t-shirts. Do you know more photos? Let me know!
@Baher: I’m excited it’s making it all the way to Dubai with regularity =)
@Chris: Definitely things to think about as it grows - for the moment the easy way to skip the line is to ship us the schwag for us to distribute instead of waiting for a free sticker (or much more selective tshirt) slot in the bags.
@Daniel: Thank you. I appreciate the kind words - great to meet you guys on Thurs!
@Arne: You should check out Lisa’s other flickr sets, Kitta’s flickr sets, the valleyschwag and schwag tags on flickr, and http://reddit.wired.com/sexygeeks2007/
Wow, this is one of the most exciting ventures I’ve ever heard of! (i guess i’m the wet-my-pants target audience). i just wish i wasn’t too late for techcrunch gear!
I have been a member since the start. I enjoy getting the tshirts and other goodies. have a pic of me in my techcrunch shirt on the front of my site…not as good looking as the girl but hey
The T-Shirt is damn Good
the color very much suits the girl & the TechCrunch name 
The girl is gorgeous too with this Tee shirt 
Wish i get one too.. 
Oh, hey! After the chick shot followed by the usual drooling inanity in the comments thread I backed up to see if this post was written by Duncan Riley. But no, it’s Michael Arrington. Looks like respect for women runs deep in the whole organization.
Um, do you guys realize that these comments really make you look like a bunch of typical valley dorks who couldn’t get laid if you were carpet?